About

$3,718

pledged of $1,300 goal

73

backers

YES!!!!! VISIBLE JUSTICE reached it's initial funding goal of $1,300, thanks to some awesome folks who believed in this project since it launched last week. THANK YOU!!!

With a few more days left, I'm setting a stretch goal of $3,000. This will help me secure and compensate an artist for the storyboard, go deeper in the pre-production phase with them, and get started on production.

WHAT IS VISIBLE JUSTICE?

Visible Justice is an animated web series about restorative justice. The primary medium is short, animated video that will be engaging and easy to share across social media platforms. This also allows our storytellers to share their experiences while remaining anonymous.

WHY?

The United States justice system is punitive. It seeks to contain and aggressively force repentance on the people it has decided need to atone for their crimes. In this system, recidivism rates are nearly 80%, which begs the question - how well is it really working?

Restorative justice, in stark contrast, is a model of justice that emphasizes reparation and empathy as opposed to retribution. Vengeance does not reform the criminal nor does it undo the crimes they committed. Once a crime is committed the best we can hope for is that all parties involved learn from it and become better people for it.

Through multiple conversations over the last several months with practitioners and advocates of restorative justice, it became clear that communicating about an idea that challenges a centuries-old understanding of justice is no easy task. I also discovered that when talking about their work, the stories they told about restorative justice in action were more compelling than any statistics or academic definitions. Their stories revealed the essence of restorative justice.

Visible Justice aims to provide a communication tool that makes it easier for the people on the ground doing this work to share those stories and why it’s so important.

WHAT AM I RAISING MONEY FOR?

I’m seeking support for the pre-production phase of the first episode of Visible Justice. Episode one, entitled Plexiglass Punch, is a story of a young student so overcome with frustration that he punches a plexiglass display case at school without really understanding the emotions that lead him to do it. In this story obtained and retold by Seattle's National Center for Restorative Justice, the school decides to dig deeper into the cause of misconduct and correct it rather than punish him with something like detention.

With the money raised from Kickstarter backers I will be able to fund pre-production for Plexiglass Punch. This includes compensating professionals for script development, storyboarding, and voiceover work and animation. I want to do right by these stories by making sure that the quality of the medium is on par with the power of restorative justice.

NEXT STEPS

After the pre-production phase is complete, I will seek funding for the production and distribution phases of the first episode. Once the first episode is complete, I will continue to leverage existing and build new relationships with advocates and practitioners to find stories that could be adapted to the Visible Justice format. Feedback, engagement and reach of the first episode will determine the duration of the series.

ABOUT ME

My name is Kate Styer and I’m a designer studying Interaction Design at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

My background in the nonprofit sector has made me deeply passionate about improving human experiences through better design, especially in communities neglected by the tech industry.
I’m especially interested in restorative justice as an alternative to the punitive policies in schools and the court system that contribute to mass incarceration.

BUDGET

$1,300: Script, storyboard, Kickstarter fees and rewards

Risks and challenges

Access/privacy: If the story we select to animate is not permitted to be used for the project, we are prepared to be flexible and seek out an alternative.

Collaborators: I think this is a great idea, but maybe others won't! It may be a challenge to find an animator I need to do this project in the time frame necessary.

Creative direction: collaborating with new partners leaves room for disagreements about vision. Securing an animator with the style, skill and shared vision I'm looking for is key, although I am prepared to compromise and collaborate as much as possible.